Kidney diseases: Awareness drive launched in south Punjab

‘College, university students and doctors are participating in the drive’.

MULTAN:

“More than 1,000 volunteers will travel across south Punjab to raise awareness among people about kidney diseases,” Bakhtawar Amin Memorial Trust Hospital, Multan, chairman Mian Rasheed Ahmed said on Friday.

He said the volunteers would visit Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Mianwali, Khushab, Bhakkar, Sargodha, Multan, Khanewal, Lodhran, Vehari, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur and Bahawalngar as part of a campaign that started on March 16, 2014.

“College and university students and doctors are participating in the drive organised by the Bakhtawar Amin hospital,” Ahmed said while talking to The Express Tribune.

Ghulam Abbas, the head of the dialysis centre at the hospital, said people in Pakistan were more likely to suffer from kidney diseases than cancer. “The only solution is to drink clean water,” he said.

He said the kidney centre at Bakhtawar Amin hospital had 40 dialysis machines bought from donations by citizens. “All of them will be functional this year,” he said.

Multan Institute of Cardiology Executive Director Rana Altaf, who led a campaign in areas surrounding Multan on Thursday, told The Express Tribune that his team comprised 30 members.

“More than 100 doctors have contacted me in less than 24 hours to join the public awareness campaign,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2014.